The invention relates to a method for forming a flat piece of dough from a dough body, wherein the dough body is conveyed with a conveying velocity to a roller and is flattened by the roller.
The invention also relates to an apparatus for forming a flat piece of dough from a dough body, which apparatus is provided with a roller for flattening a dough body and a conveying means for conveying the dough body to the roller with a conveying velocity, wherein the conveying means is drivable by driving means.
When manufacturing a dough product, for example baguette or bread for toasting, first of all a flat piece of dough is formed from a dough body which is then rolled up and further processed into the dough product in question. Forming the dough body into a flat piece of dough takes place in that the dough body is conveyed by a conveying means to a roller for flattening the dough body at a conveying velocity which is lesser than or equal to the peripheral velocity of the roller. In practise it has been shown, however, that if the piece of dough which generally has an elongated shape, is placed on the conveying means, the latter is not in all cases parallel with regard to the roller. Moreover, it has been shown that as a result of the difference in friction a dough body is not simultaneously taken along by all parts of the roller, even if the dough body is indeed placed parallel with regard to the roller. Due to this the flat piece of dough acquires a jagged shape, whereby rolling up the flat piece of dough is difficult and a rolled up flat piece of dough is formed which does not have a uniform section but which hangs down at the ends. Due also to the varying orientation of the piece of dough vis-a-vis the roller, a non-reproducible flat piece of dough is formed which leads to non-uniform dough products, such as baguettes and bread for toasting. In addition, it is in many cases necessary to remove the hanging down ends of the rolled up flat piece of dough, which leads to high wastage. Because the rolled up flat piece of dough has no uniform diameter it is impossible to divide elongated rolled up pieces of dough into several equal pieces for forming small baguettes, for example.
It is, among other things, an object of the present invention to provide a method and an apparatus for forming a flat piece of dough from a dough body which enables forming a correctly positioned, almost rectangular flat piece of dough, thus furthering the production of reproducible dough products and in the course of which rolling up of the flat piece of dough is also facilitated, and in which the rolled up flat piece of dough acquires an almost uniform diameter whereby no head waste occurs and the rolled up flat piece of dough can be divided into several equal pieces.